Hello! My name is Alyssa Antman, though most people call me Lys, and I’m thrilled (truly, it feels a little surreal in the best way) to introduce myself as the new New Hampshire Campaign Manager at MomsRising. I’m honored to be stepping into this role, carrying my passion for community, storytelling, and justice into the work of supporting families and caregivers across the Granite State. New Hampshire has become home for me, and being able to show up for families here feels like stepping into something I’ve been moving toward for a long time.

My story starts in New York, where I was born amid the noise, color, and constant swirl of life. I spent my early childhood on Long Island before my family moved to Florida, a transition that taught me early how environments shape us, and how adaptability can become a quiet superpower. My childhood, like so many people’s, was complicated. I grew up in a household that held both tenderness and harm, where the quiet undercurrents of volatility taught me more about strength and rebuilding than I realized at the time. 

I watched our family navigate stress, reinvention, loss, and resilience– the kinds of weathered instability, painful dynamics, and chaos many face behind closed doors. Those early experiences planted the seeds for my lifelong belief that every family deserves stability, dignity, and support.

As an adult, I eventually found my way to New Hampshire, but in so many ways, it felt less like discovering someplace new and more like returning to something familiar. I spent my summers and winter breaks here growing up– visiting the aunts, uncles, cousins, and chosen family who made the Granite State feel like a second home long before I ever lived here. Those trips were full of crisp air, lake days, snow-heavy pines, and the kind of family closeness that roots itself quietly in you.

So when life finally brought me back to New Hampshire, it felt a bit like a homecoming, like I was stepping back into a place that had been patiently waiting for me. Now I share that space with my partner Chris and two chocolate Labrador Retrievers, Ruby (the energetic 3-year-old who thinks every day is for celebrating life [and being a menace…]) and Beau (the soulful 9-year-old who believes in endless affection and deep eye contact). They’re my daily reminder to slow down, breathe, and touch the world with softness. Anyone who has ever loved a pet knows how grounding they can be and these two remind me every day of the simple joys that keep families strong: routine, safety, laughter, movement, and connection.

Life in New Hampshire has taught me a lot about community. Small towns and cities can be both comforting and constricting. You can feel held, and you can feel watched. But you also learn what it means to truly see each other, to check in, to show up, to build small ecosystems of care everywhere you go. That sense of interconnectedness is part of why I’m so passionate about this work. 

I’m someone who listens deeply, to people, to stories, to the world around me. Maybe it’s because I’m a creator and artist at heart. Maybe it’s because I hold a multitude of identities and know what it feels like to move through systems that weren’t built with my reality in mind. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a family where emotional complexity was the undercurrent of every day.

I show up to this work as a queer, disabled woman who has spent a long time learning how to carve out space where there wasn’t any and that’s a big part of why building community here in New Hampshire matters so deeply to me.

What I know for sure is this: policy doesn’t move people, stories do. Stories carry the power to reshape communities, heal wounds, and move mountains.

As an artist and storyteller, I’ve learned that the most transformative breakthroughs happen when people feel seen, heard, and understood. And as an advocate, I’ve seen the incredible power that everyday families have when their stories are lifted up at the State House and beyond.

MomsRising’s mission is one that feels close to home. Issues like maternal justice, education, accessible child care, reproductive freedom, and family economic security aren’t abstract policy categories, they’re the scaffolding of healthy communities. They are the conditions that allow families to breathe, to rest, and to grow.

I joined MomsRising because I believe in the world we’re building: one where caregivers are supported, families are seen, and communities get the tools they need to thrive. And I joined now because New Hampshire is at a turning point. The challenges are real but so are the opportunities.

As the NH Campaign Manager, I’m here to build relationships, elevate local stories, mobilize families, and shape the conversations that move our state forward.

This year, I’m looking forward to uplifting issues that matter deeply to families and continuing to push for policies that make New Hampshire a place where families can flourish

I’m especially eager to bring people together. I want to create spaces where people feel safe sharing their experiences, where joy and advocacy intersect, where stories spark momentum.

If you’re reading this from anywhere in New Hampshire– Lancaster, Nashua, Portsmouth, Keene, or anywhere in between– I want to meet you. I want to hear what’s happening in your life, in your family, in your community. I want to know what challenges you’re facing, but also what lights you up, what gives you hope, what you want to see change.

Your voice matters. Your experience matters. And together, we can make meaningful change.

Please reach out, say hi, or invite me to your community spaces! I can’t wait to get to know you, collaborate with you, and fight alongside you.

I’m so grateful to the MomsRising team for welcoming me with open arms, and I’m grateful to you, every caregiver, every parent, every advocate, and every neighbor, who is building a better future right here in New Hampshire. I promise to bring my whole self into this work: my voice, my art, my energy, my empathy, and my commitment.

Here’s to rising together.

-Lys